You gather wrong. The Chinese will be buying Windows 7 instead of Windows 8 to replace their XP machines. That's because the Chinese government is smart enough not to want to put a cell-phone interface on all of their new PCs.

With Windows 8 being a consumer centric O/S, China is probably making the right call. Until ways are given to lock out the infernal Metro interface, no self-respecting business would look to Windows 8 when Windows 7 is still available.

Maybe they are just trying to negotiate a better deal, either for continuing Windows XP support or for upgrading all those older PCs to Windows 7 (which might be a viable path).

Fortunately from a desktop user perspective Windows 8.1 Update is about 100% better than Windows 8 was. They ought to at least give it a look on any NEW PCs they buy.

BTW, I'm in engineering but deal with IT and users all the time. Could Microsoft have made the 8.1 Update any more confusing for the clueless masses? After putting out the 8.1 update, calling the NEXT thing 8.1 UPDATE was simply crazy. Couldn't they have called it 8.2 to differentiate it? I've had so many co-workers and friends who don't have a clue what version of Windows 8 they are running or if they are in danger of losing support if they don't "update"...Jeez....

I might have agreed with that a year ago but now now. Windows 8.1 is not that bad. I have it running on my laptop fine. What is odd is they are mad at MS for pulling the plug on XP, but I guess Wondows 7 is ok to use.

However, it didn't sound like they had any Windows 7 OS's there, Just XP and 8.

I am guessing that the Chinese government installed Windows 8 on a desektop and then realized how truly awful it really is. The worst and most frustrating decision I ever made was upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.